Whedon's Dollhouse Stops Filming

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Is the production delay caused by network concerns?

By Eric Goldman

News has spread that Joss Whedon's new FOX series Dollhouse has temporality shut down production for two weeks. The story was first reported by Zap2it.com's Korbi Ghosh, who was told by a representative from 20th Century Fox (who are producing Dollhouse) that Whedon had asked for the time to regroup and focus on the writing room, on the heels of directing two of the first three episodes of the series.

Ghosh was told by the Fox rep, "We have every confidence that [the extra time] will allow Joss to make the show the best it can possibly be. It's very rare that you have a head writer who is also directing two episodes in a row. But we are happy that Joss is directing, because this is his vision."

However, TVWeek.com's Josef Adalian is now raising questions about whether that's the whole story. While he quotes a spokesperson from 20th as saying the show has the "luxury of extra time,", since it doesn't premiere until January, Adalian goes on to say that there is concern about Dollhouse from some Fox executives.

Dollhouse

Adalian says a source familiar with the situation tells him that there are concerns inside the network regarding "the fundamental underpinnings of the show." These concerns include worry over whether Eliza Dushku's main character is someone easy to root for – the series focuses on her character Echo, who exists in a childlike state until she is programmed with a temporary new personality by those who run "the Dollhouse" of the title. Adalian says the concern is whether an audience can invest in a character who has "no free will or ability to do much beyond what she's told to do."

The other concern Adalian reports is that the early episodes are confusing and hard to follow. A second pilot episode was shot for Dollhouse, after Whedon acknowledged elements that could use clarification in his first pilot. However, the TVWeek report says that some network executives feel at least some of these early concerns have continued in subsequent scripts.